COMMENTARY

By Paul Attner

updated 1:52 p.m. ET Dec. 14, 2005

Paul Attner

Bob McNair had so much promise as the owner of the Texans. His expansion Texans have been run with class, his stadium is gorgeous, his popularity with local fans extraordinarily high. Now he’s botched all this good will by hiring Dan Reeves as a consultant.

It is no way to treat Dom Capers, his coach, and Charley Casserly, his general manager. Despite the denials, Reeves’ presence is a symbol of the obvious—both Capers and Casserly are going to take the fall for the Texans’ awful season.

Both understand how this business works, that poor performance on the field endangers job security. But to insult them by bringing in Reeves like this, so he can second-guess them with the owner’s blessing, is simply an awful decision. If McNair wants the two men replaced, tell them now they are gone at season’s end. But to say, as he did at a press conference Monday, that Reeves would not be critiquing their performances is laughable. What else will he do if not evaluate the coaching and personnel decisions of this team?

McNair also said he has been talking to other owners and asking them their opinion about his team and its players. Simply mindboggling. I could call an AFC general manager right now and ask him to evaluate the personnel of a NFC team and he probably would have problems. These guys don’t have time to study teams outside their division, much less in the other conference. Yet McNair thinks an owner—Dan Snyder? Wayne Huizenga? Woody Johnson? -- actually could properly evaluate his roster.

This is how owners make lousy decisions. He has two men of great loyalty in Capers and Casserly, and they should be treated with dignity and respect. Yet neither were told of the Reeves hire until just hours before the press conference. It’s not good, and it’s not right.

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